Faith, Patience and Endurance: Come and ride the train!

So this was the first time I have left my site since arriving last year in November. I actually struggled for a long time deciding whether or not I would go to Shymkent for Nauryz. But I will talk about that in another post.

So lets talk about the trains in Kazakhstan.

First, I live in the center of Kazakhstan. So to go anywhere worth going, its going to be at least an 18hr train ride or more. When I first learned about the length of train rides in Kazakhstan, I was mortified. It just seems so long. I love to travel, but I hate being on a plane for more than 6 hours. But train travel in Kazakhstan has changed my view. Now, 18hrs seems so short to me! lol. I guess bc it usually takes about 20 or more hours to get anywhere. To go from the north all the way to the south takes about 40 hrs. So in comparison, 18 is awesome! My trip to Shymkent was about 21hrs.

There are 3 types of tickets you can buy on the train.

Kupay: Means that you buy a small room, with 4 beds. The good thing about this is that you can close the door and have privacy. Its more quiet. And the beds are bigger. The bad is that if your a women traveling alone stuck with 3 drunk men....you get the picture. And its more expensive

Platzcart: Means you sleep out in the open with everyone else on the train. There are no doors. Its cheaper than Kupay. Its louder. You can be really lucky and get a wagon full of friendly people. Or you can get the "loud, stare at the americans, ask annoying questions, drunk people" wagon. Also, people who have general admissions tickets sit on your bed.

General Admission: This means that you just buy the right to stand on the train. No seat, no bed. Do you think these people stand the whole way? Please! We are in Kazakhstan. What were you thinking!? Of course they will just sit on the edge of your bed. Some will ask if its ok. Others wont. And thats the way it is. Of course you can say no....but thats only a 50/50 shot that they will listen to you. lol. Oh Kazakhstan.

So here is the good, the bad, and the ugly of my trip. We traveled Platzcart.

The good:

I was traveling with my sitemates and we were in the same wagon.
Its a sleeper train, so we each got our own bed, with clean sheets and blankets.
We came prepared with music, food, and books to keep us occupied
We left at night, so we slept during most of the trip.
We made some new friends

The bad:

The beds were very small
There was a draft coming from our window so it got a lil cold. Luckily I wore layers
We got stared at
A conductor tried to make my sitemate pay him a bribe. (Thank god she played the "what? I dont speak Russian" card)
People who bought general admission tickets, roamed the train and sat at the edge of our beds. That was annoying.
No doors, no privacy

The Ugly: